


Under the River

by Elleth



Category: TOLKIEN J. R. R. - Works & Related Fandoms, The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: F/F, First Meetings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-15
Updated: 2018-07-15
Packaged: 2019-06-10 21:43:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15300645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elleth/pseuds/Elleth
Summary: New to Eriador, a hunter meets a curious river-spirit.





	Under the River

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Zdenka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zdenka/gifts).



The man-high meadowsweet opens before Haleth at the water's edge; only quick reflexes save her from tumbling headfirst into the sunlit river. No deer, instead laughter, tinkling like water over rocks from the willows downstream in the shade of a cliff; Haleth's hand goes to bow and arrow on impulse. 

None should be living there. Scouts reported the land as utterly empty, but perhaps the First House came here by some other road? Because there's a flash of gold in the shade then, a rippling reflection of bright hair, then silence and the whispering splash of someone slipping underwater, stealthy.

*

Haleth's breath catches. Water is a portal to the other world; it's the Powers' element to make sacrifices in, not to frolic, and going in unless at need might as well mean a sacrifice that the Powers will happily take. How can anyone not know?

Unless… gleaming arms rise from the water to grasp Haleth's dun wrists. A laughing face and an insect on the surface are the last things Haleth sees before the rush of bubbles, and a billowing curtain of hair. When Haleth can see again, the water-spirit laughs and swims a somersault, and pulls her along, under.

*

In her house underwater, the spirit introduces herself guardian of the land, and the deer Haleth had been tracking. Haleth still breathes shakily, expecting she'll be the spirit's now, unwilling only because her people will miss her. Goldberry is fair, and laughs easily, and yet is strong… but she only wishes a token for their dwelling in the Downs. 

Haleth gives her people's story, for they are new to Goldberry, only dimly seen in the ancient Music. The kiss that finishes it is a token of her very own: For all her life, Haleth's heart beats loudest by the water.


End file.
